Relationship between severity of sleep-disordered breathing and craniofacial morphology in Japanese male patients

Objective. The objective of this study was to assess the influence of factors of obesity and craniofacial morphology on the degree of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) in Japanese individuals. Study design. The subjects were 138 adult male patients who visited the Clinic for Snoring & Obstructive Sleep Apnea at Niigata University Medical and Dental Hospital with chief complaints of snoring and apnea. Standardized lateral cephalograms were taken at the first visit, and overnight polysomnography was carried out for evaluation of each subject before treatment. Results. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to investigate factors affecting the severity of OSAS. These analyses showed that obesity, skeletal conditions such as short mandibular body and mandibular retreat, size of the tongue and position of the hyoid bone, and shape of the airway were associated with the severity of OSAS. Conclusion. In Japanese male OSAS patients, skeletal abnormalities are thought to be the factors that most greatly affect severity of OSAS. (Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod 2009;107:343-349)